Legibility Is The Common Denominator Among Winning Menus

The hardest thing to find on many Florida menus is not low prices or stone crabs, but simple legibility.

That was one conclusion of three judges who spent several hours poring over 140 menus submitted to the Florida Restaurant Association's annual menu contest.

''A lot are not easily readable. Either the type is too small or they use 50,000 typefaces or some kind of calligraphy,'' said Cathy Williams Kerns, an Orlando marketing executive who helped pick the winning menus.

The winning menus were announced and displayed at the Florida Restaurant Association show at the Orange County Convention and Civic Center Sept. 20-22. The menus that won their approval ranged from that of a very fancy hotel restaurant to that of a pizza chain, but all were easy to understand, either because the printing was clean and simple or because they had bright color pictures of each item.

The restaurant group's contest judged only how well the menu sold the restaurant's products, not the kind or prices of the meals sold.

While the judges gave points for appearance and decorative theme, they said readability was particularly important on today's increasingly crowded menus. ''There's been a tremendous increase in menu items. Just in appetizers you don't have two choices now, you have 24,'' explained Laura Bennett, a Miami public relations executive who represents the trade association and served as a menu judge.

She and her fellow judges said the best menus had detailed descriptions of each item, but that detailed lists of ingredients were not common.

Many menus still describe dishes as ''best,'' ''finest'' or ''famous,'' terms that Kerns called ''weasel words'' that don't tell the customer much. Newer restaurants have their own over-used words, like ''delicate,'' which appeal to more well-to-do customers.

In some cases pictures spoke more enticingly than any words of sales copy. ''They made me want to buy it,'' Orlando graphic designer Tom Bartlett said, referring to Friendly Restaurants' dessert menu, which features life- size color photographs of sundaes and sodas.

Although the menus were not criticized for content, judges said they noticed a big increase in the variety of desserts, wine lists, specialty drink menus and children's menus. Only a few of the menus submitted for judging included nutritional information.

Prizes were awarded in eight categories. The first place winners were:

-- Special occasions: Room service at Wyndham Hotel at Sea World, Orlando. The Wyndham also won honors for several other menus. The Haifeng's menu won third place among ''atmosphere'' restaurants and its wine list was ranked second. Atlantis won third place for its wine list and the hotel's banquet menu won second place in special occasion menus.